Splinter Cell: Blacklist Preview and Producer Interview from E3 2012 (VIDEO)

In Splinter Cell: Blacklist, covert agent has even more power as the leader of the all new Fourth Echelon organization and more freedom to neutralize targets than ever before. All of that awesome new power forced developer Ubisoft Toronto to boost the behaviors of enemies so there will be at least some challenge when you inevitably slay those chumps.

The clearest examples in the Blacklist demo we saw had Sam tagging enemies before he enters a room or area like we've seen in many Splinter Cell games before. The difference now is you'll have much more control during the ensuing semi-automatic action sequence. It's not just hit "go" and watch Sam enter a room and fire on the tagged enemies in one canned animation. As the slo-mo sequence begins you can close distance on bad guys so that Sam is grabbing them rather than shooting them at range. If you're quick enough on the controls you can even disarm or grab a guy as a human shield once you're close enough to grab them. The controls during these slo-mo sequences are contextual so that you'll be able to do different things in different order as you move through space. The end result is you can make Blacklist look like more of a movie than a game once you get your skills up.

There will be a lot more on Splinter Cell: Black list from Egotastic in the weeks to come because this one is looking like a winner too. For now, the game's creative director has a few thoughts on Blacklist that'll back up some (not all) of what we've just said.